Mari's Mistake (Icehome, #10)

by Ruby Dixon

"My khui knows you have my heart." "Mine doesn't," she whispers. "Then we will convince them ourselves. If they sang for us once, they will sing for us again." I am certain we can coax them again, given time. She just needs to trust me, to trust my khui. "We just need to try." I touch her cheeks, so cold due to the chilly breeze. "Come to my furs tonight?" She hesitates, and then nods, giving me a smile. "Tonight." * * * MARI God, I really want to talk to someone. More than anything, I want to talk to T'chai—my other half—but this is the one topic we can't ever seem to agree on. Someone other than T'chai. After we finish our walk on the beach, I take my time heading back to the Ravenclaw cave, as Callie calls it. Working on cleaning the scavenged parts free of salt and grit usually helps me focus. It's a mindless stream of never-ending work, but I actually enjoy it because it lets me think about other things. Most days, Callie joins me, but I know today she's going to be watching the beach games. All of the tribe's going to be there, I think, and I'm not entirely surprised when I see Mardok has turned the lights off in the cave and put his tools away. No doubt they're going to watch the games, too. I guess that means I should go, too, but something inside me is reluctant to do so. Maybe it's the fact that I don't feel like we belong, T'chai and I. We're “flawed” and I feel like we no longer fit in with the group. They all stare at us when we get together. One on one, I thi...